Defense and prosecution spar in Bobby Thompson trial

Updated October 17, 2013 at 1:09 PM;Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:08 PM

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Bobby Thompson, shown in an earlier court appearance, listened in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court this morning as attorneys questioned a witness who was involved in the Ohio investigation of Thompson and the U.S. Navy Veterans Association.
(Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The trial of accused veterans charity swindler Bobby Thompson continued this morning in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court as the defense and prosecution sparred over Ohio’s investigation of Thompson and the U.S. Navy Veterans Association (USNVA).

Authorities said Thompson is a stolen identity used by John Cody to run the USNVA and bilk donors out of more than $100 million nationwide from 2002-2010.

Damon Roberts, a major case investigator with the charitable law section of the Ohio Attorney General, testified Wednesday that state investigators were first alerted to a potential problem with the USNVA by a series of negative stories about the charity, printed in the St. Petersburg Times in 2010.

Roberts also testified that the addresses of officers listed in registration documents filed with the state by the USNVA's Ohio chapter turned out to be UPS mailboxes or, in one case, Fenn Tower at Cleveland State University.

Under cross-examination this morning by defense attorney Joseph Patituce, Roberts said the state has no requirement that these addresses must be in Ohio or represent home or office locations.

In additional questioning, Roberts said he was not aware of money spent by the USNVA for care kits for troops overseas in 2009, or of contributions made by the USNVA to several prominent politicians as part of its national lobbying mission.

Roberts also said he did not compile a report regarding his actions in the state investigation of Thompson and the USNVA.

Brad Tammaro, an assistant attorney general handling prosecution of the case, used the witness to show that the care kit donations mentioned by the defense were made soon after Thompson faced newspaper inquiries regarding the legitimacy of the USNVA.

Tammaro asked Roberts if there was anything in the addresses of USNVA Ohio chapter officers that would indicate they were UPS mailbox sites. Roberts said no.

"Would you say that's misleading?" Tammaro asked the witness.

"Yes," Roberts replied.

When Patituce later came back to ask the witness if these addresses, on forms sent by the USNVA to register with the state, were anything the public would see, Roberts said no.